DIVS FOR XMAS SHOPPING!

It’s a Monday but I went on leave today to go with my mother and sister to Divisoria to help her shop for toys to giveaway for Christmas. We rode the MRT and my mom wanted to stop over at 168 to start shopping there but my sister insisted that the cheaper toys can be bought at Divisoria Mall and so we walked all the way there and true enough, Mama was able to buy so much toys to her heart’s content. Our problem now is how to bring this all home, uh-oh! Then, I was also able to buy a few knick-knacks for myself (just a few because we had been to Divs last weekend lang) like umbrellas, ring and necklace watches as gifts to pamangkins, the electronic flyswatter I failed to buy last time, and what’s more, Ma gave me her advanced Christmas gift, Angel speakers for my PC – just cool! Then, after shopping, my sister took us to this authentic Chinese resto that serves hand-pulled noodles and dumplings. It was around 2 pm already when we hauled off our asses from the restaurant and took a cab going home. We were all quite tired but happy with our purchases and the thought that we would also be making some kids very happy this Christmas.

(photo from clipart)

KITCHEN MISADVENTURES SERIES 16 – Chicken and potatoes with cream

This dish is a bit like the one that I cooked in 2009 (from Casa Veneracion) but this recipe is one that I got from Dennis’ Lutong Bahay blog. Their ingredients are somewhat similar except that this one does not have cheese. The process used in cooking is different though since Dennis’ version required some sautéing first. First thing to do is to season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. After a few minutes, fry the chicken pieces in butter until browned then set aside. In the same pan, sauté some garlic, onion and ginger and add back the chicken. Place ½ c of water, cover the pan and let the chicken pieces cook. Add in potatoes until cooked but still firm. Add in the cream and a bit of cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken the sauce. Add more salt and pepper, if needed. When the sauce has thickened, serve with rice. Thank you Dennis for another yummy dish!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURES 15 – GINATAANG ALIMASAG

I enjoy eating seafood dishes though my mother said I did not used to like them so much when I was younger...probably because I don’t really know how to eat them as a kid and would rely on my mom who would patiently pick off the flesh from the shell and I would gingerly dip the soft white meat in vinegar, with my fingers pack it with some rice and put in my mouth – ah! Just heaven! So whenever, I see crabs like alimango or alimasag on sale at our local market, I can’t resist but buy some of these delicious crustaceans. By the way, the main difference between the alimasag and the alimango is its color and the legs – the alimasag usually has a spotted shell and thinner legs while the alimango has a solid orange-colored shell (when cooked) and large fat front legs that are just so yummy to eat!

Here’s the recipe for the ginataang alimasag that we had for lunch today – first, thing to do is to sauté some garlic, onion and a bit of ginger in oil. Then add the squash or string beans (if using). Add in the coconut milk (second extraction) and the crabs (which may be steamed earlier for a few minutes until they have changed color). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Finally add in coconut cream (kakang gata) and let the sauce simmer until it thickens. Wash your hands and serve with plenty of hot rice.

TAKE 2 AT LOPEZ FARMS

It’s our second time to visit this place and this time we spent my sister and niece’s birthday. My sister was not with us the last time we were here, it was just my brother, my half-sister and her family and my Dad and step-mom. So this time was a first for her together with an Aunt and her family who weren’t able to join us also the last time. It’s good that they also enjoyed the ambiance of the place but this time around, the climate was much cooler since it was nearing December. We still occupied the same rooms downstairs while my Aunt and her family stayed in the room they were supposed to occupy upstairs beside Papa’s room. My sister stayed in my Papa’s bedroom since it was quite big while my half-sister was in the room next to ours, in the basement, where just outside there’s a billiard table, table tennis and a swing.

We still enjoyed the second visit that we made here at Lopez farms. Though we were a bit late in joining them since I had to go to work for a bit yesterday then we just followed them to the farm in Cavite. Admittedly, we got lost a bit and had to ask many times for the right directions but we got there at around six in the evening pa din...just in time for dinner. Mt Aunt and her family arrived just as were about to eat and after eating, the boys got busy downstairs playing billiards while the rest of us stayed in the family room browsing over the old photographs in Marinduque...too bad that I just brought that album since that is all that Papa asked for e...next time I will bring the others. We had fun goofing around and stayed up until very late with the kids watching movies in the laptop.

The next day, we did nothing much but eat and laze around all day...the kids swam in the pool again and played basketball and the numerous fun games and swings the place had to offer. I tried to read a book but ended up sleeping and not reading at all, the place is just so conducive to sleeping! I just love their hammock and wish that someday I would be able to install one just like it...in our teensy weeny home hehehe. We feasted/gorged ourselves with food... and took naps in between family chats. In all, it was a totally relaxing and fun-filled weekend, spent meaningfully with the people we love. Till next time and next foodtrip!

KITARO FOR THE HUBBY’S BIRTHDAY

Aside from Italian pasta and pizza, another favourite cuisine of our family is Japanese. In fact, our fondness for Japanese food is displayed even by our children who also love eating sashimi and sushi. And so for our lunch today, we decided to eat at a small Japanese resto near the office – Kitaro and we were quite surprised since their meals are priced reasonably and yet still offer enough authenticity to make it seem that we were truly dining Japanese fare. When we entered the resto, the staff were quite courteous and attended to us immediately (I guess it helped that we were the only ones there, hehehe) We ordered our favourites – California Maki, Tofu and Mixed Tempura...all were made fresh and tasted good but the one we were quite surprised about is the Tofu steak which was crisp and breaded outside but quite gooey and still fresh inside. Someday I hope to bring my kids to this restaurant since they too are such suckers for Japanese food. But due to its exorbitant prices, we are usually only able to partake Japanese food whenever we go to my dad’s place in Makati. So now with this new discovery of a truly affordable Japanese resto, Kitaro, we’d surely be able to eat Japanese a bit more often.

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 14 - KALDERETANG TILAPIA

This dish is one of the hubby’s favourites and since it is his birthday, this is what we had for lunch yesterday. I only learned about this kind of dish from his relatives in Pampanga. I only knew that kaldereta can be cooked using beef, pork or chicken, I did not know that tilapia can be cooked this way too but it was just delicious! The first thing they do is to fry the fish normally in hot oil. Then garlic, onion and tomatoes are sautéed and when the tomatoes are soft and mushy, liver spread is added and some tomato sauce. Pour the second gata of the coconut milk into the pan. Add the fish and let simmer until the sauce is a bit reduced. Season with salt and pepper and finally add the kakang gata before turning off the fire. And voila another super yummy dish!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 13 - BAKED MACARONI

This is one dish that I have done countless times before in different versions but I believe that this version that I got from my favourite food blogger, Connie Veneracion is the best that I have tasted so far. In fact, way back in 2000 while I was still pregnant with my daughter, I remember I used to always be craving for baked mac but at the time, we simply did the quickie version with cooked macaroni smothered in spaghetti sauce then topped with shredded quick melt cheese then baked in a microwave oven until the cheese melts...that easy! But this recipe is a bit more complicated than that with a whole lot more ingredients to make the cheese all goooey and just simply delish!

For the exact recipe, please just visit the Casa Veneracion blog site:http://casaveneracion.com/

SPLASH ISLAND WITH SOFITEL FAMILY

It’s the Sofitel Family Day at Splash Island today and we got invited by my step-Aunt though my father was not around and so for the sake of the kids who had not been to Splash Island yet, we agreed. We had to get up early and travel all the way to Makati then again thru the monstrous traffic at SLEX before reaching the place at around 8:30 a.m. We stayed to watch the program (of Sofitel) for a bit since the pools did not open until 10am and by then the kids were itching to take a dip in the numerous pools. So we passed the time, lounging around in our assigned nipa hut while the kids loitered around the park and took part in some activities like wall/rock climbing (though it was only Alex who was adventurous enough)

Then, finally the kids started swimming and though I was hesitant at first to take a dip, I relented because I wanted to be with Kaye when she takes the major slides. We first started out slowly with the Balsa River ride where we just let the slow waves of the river take our inflatable tires down the entire length of the river-pool. Then there was also the wave pool called Agos Grandes though the waves were not on all the time but only during certain times during the day. But what sets Splash Island apart from the other resorts I had been to was the numerous slides! We started with a few short but twisting slides like the Big Bamboo, Twisted Palms and King Pilipit (a real heart-stopper!). But Kaye and I had the most fun with the Rio Montanosa wherein four persons can ride a family raft down a huge slide. We rode that for about 2 or 3 times and would have wanted to do more except that the lines were long and there was quite a bit of distance to walk from the pool to the stairs that would take us to the slides but it was worth it. What I didn’t try was the Magellan’s drop...well, my daughter still was not eligible to take it since she was still young while I was afraid of the quite steep slope that I can see from below so I passed and just let the other kids try it. Maybe next time when we get the chance to return to Splash Island...

Since this trip was a Sofitel-sponsored event, our food was likewise sponsored by them but we had to buy our own snacks since bringing in of food was not allowed. This would have been OK if not for the highly priced chips and drinks...oh well, our tickets to the venue are free anyway so we might as well splurge na lang on food hehehe. The hubby slept lang the entire day in the cabana and my eldest slept too though he did take a few slides/rides with us. The events were finished by 5 and we got dressed and was surprised at the traffic in SLEX that it took us two hours just to get to Makati...oh no, the hubby’s surely pissed now! Papa had just arrived from the airport by then and we had dinner first before we finally went home...tired but happy that I was able to have great bonding moments with my kids at Splash Island, admittedly the largest water-theme park we have been able to visit. Thank you Tita and also to Sofitel for making this possible...

MATH WIZARD

I received some very great news today....from browsing my daughter’s FB account during lunch time (she gave me access so I can take care of her ‘virtual pets’) And I saw a message on her wall from a classmate congratulating her for being Number One in their Math Contest! Yipee! I am so proud...I didn’t even know she was good in Math...what makes me doubly proud was that she did not even try all that hard. All her efforts in this particular quiz bee were just her basic stock knowledge, no extra studying since I didn’t know she was joining the contest...imagine that!?! I didn’t even know I had a math wizard for a daughter...congrats baby! Keep it up!!!

(Photo courtesy of clipart)

BREAKING DAWN – BOOK REVIEW

At long last, after so many weeks of ‘pagtitiyaga’ reading the Breaking Dawn ebook on my brother’s HTC phone, I was able to finish it na! I had always been a voracious book reader even way back in elementary and high school, in fact, I do not recall anymore the number of times I had a book confiscated for reading in class or even during flag raising formations (hehehe that’s how addicted I am to reading pocketbooks then). …but all of this waned when I got married and had to juggle duties as mom, wife, and employee on a day-to-day basis. Thus, I had very little time left to myself and so reading was placed in the back burner.

I still read from time to time but not as prolific as before when I can finish a book in one sitting, instead, I just read a few pages here and there during lull moments and before bedtime. I especially welcomed the onset of ebooks and gadgets to read them with, though I wanted so badly to own a Kindle, I could not as it costs an arm and a leg… which is why I was so thankful to my brother for handing me down his old HTC phone that has an ebook reader, though the screen and the text was quite small, I welcome it as now I can have my book with me anytime and I can get to read a lot more often.

I was able to read the first Twilight book in its original book form, a soft-bound version gifted to me by the hubby many Valentine’s ago…Breaking Dawn is the fourth and final installment in the Twilight Saga series and as a brief backgrounder, the Twilight Saga is a series of books written by Stephanie Meyer that details the love that forms between vampire Edward Cullen and human Bella Swann with a little bit of a love triangle thrown in the form of wolf-turning Jacob Black. This book takes off from the ending of Eclipse (the third book) wherein wedding invitations to Edward and Bella’s wedding had already been sent and Jacob started running away when he received his...to escape the aching wounds of his broken heart.

The book is divided into three parts: The Wedding, The Transformation and The War. The first part (THE WEDDING) starts in Bella’s perspective…and how she has been adjusting to the idea of being engaged to Edward and being his woman. She starts by relaying her insecurities one day while driving her brand-new Mercedes Guardian, the car that had been Edward’s compromise with her when her truck suddenly stopped running. Little did she know that Edward would get her something that’s not just bullet-proof but missile proof complete with body armor and actually designed for Middle East diplomats, arms dealers and drug lords. But that is just the car for her while she had not yet ‘turned’. He promised to get her a new one when she becomes one of them. For now, while she is still fragile and quite accident-prone she had to contend with the stares that come her way while driving the highly unusual car.

On the night before the wedding, Bella had fitful nightmares of the Volturi coming in to kill a vampire-child (presumably hers) which she rushes in to save until she sees the pile of dead bodies where the vampire child sits atop – with all her friends and families there. She wakes up gasping and it took her awhile to realize she was back in her own bedroom. Then Alice arrives to get her ready for the BIG DAY. Thanks to Alice and Rosalie, Bella was the perfect picture of the beautiful blushing bride as she made her way down to the garden to the awaiting crowd of family and friends present to witness her wedding to Edward Cullen. The wedding and succeeding reception went smoothly as planned by Alice.

But before the wedding was over, a surprise gift arrived with Jacob making a visit to the wedding and Bella was ecstatic that her best friend/man had finally arrived. But things once again turned sour when Jacob learned that Bella intends to have a ‘real honeymoon’ with Edward before turning into a vampire. He was furious with rage and they almost killed each other right there and then. But in a way Edward seemed to agree with Jacob and it was only thru Bella’s insistence that she experience everything while still a human that Edward acquiesced to her wishes. After the reception was over and they said their goodbyes, the two got into Edward’s car and drove off to the airport.

Their secret honeymoon rendezvous turned out to be at Isle Esme, an island off Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Carlisle’s gift to her wife, and they offered the island to them for their honeymoon. The night went well way beyond what Bella and Edward expected it would as they spent the night together for the first time – fire and ice existing together without destroying each other. But the next morning, Bella awoke to an obviously worried Edward, asking her if she was hurt and at first she wondered if she did anything wrong and realized why upon seeing the many purplish bruises all over her body. So Edward thought that despite the satisfaction they both felt that night, he would not touch her again until she had been changed. And so for the rest of their stay at Isle Esme, Edward let Bella do numerous outdoor activities that would ensure she would be dead-tired by the time they return home and so she would just be nodding off to sleep and not think of ‘other things to do.’

One day, Bella awoke to realize that all the sleeplessness, fatigue, constant hunger and now the nausea that she had experienced all point to one thing – she is pregnant! At the same time that she made her realization, Alice suddenly called to ask if everything was OK…as if she had a vision that something was wrong. Edward remained immobile, unmoving, unable to comprehend what has been happening so it was Bella who answered the phone and talked to Carlisle. They were able to confirm (without a pregnancy kit test) that Bella was indeed pregnant and so Edward quickly made arrangements to take them home. Edward assured that he and Carlisle would take care of her…that they would take the baby out before it started to hurt her. But that angered and worried Bella all the more, wondering how they could think of killing her baby, their baby. So when Edward left to bring their bags to the boat, she made a phone call to Rosalie to ask her help.

Book two (The TRANSFORMATION) was written in Jacob’s perspective and at the time he was already back at Forks/La Push. Jacob had been a bit worried since four out of ten members of their pack had already imprinted, the last one being Paul, and with her sister Rachel, no less. But he had a deeper one to worry about – wondering how Bella would ‘fake’ her death and be ‘one of them’. It had been four weeks since they got married and he had been going out of his mind wondering if it had been done. Then, they got some summons from Sam, the head of their pack and they all phased into wolves to meet in the forest. Once there, Seth reported to them what he overheard from Billy and Charlie’s conversation. That Bella and Edward had come home for a week now but he can’t come to see her as she had contracted a rare communicable disease. They knew then it was their ploy to make Charlie believe that she had died and they would hold a funeral service when Bella can control her ‘newborn’ urges and not kill all the mourners on site. Sam made the decision not to attack The Cullens without provocation since Bella made the decision of her own free will. Jacob was unhappy about it and walked away from the pack.

Jacob reached the Cullen house and Carlisle met him at the door. Jacob saw Bella was thin, emaciated, in fact as if someone or something was sucking her dry. She was sick but not with any kind of sickness one could imagine – she was pregnant with a baby bloodsucker killing her from the inside. It was taking her life to feed its own. Jacob learned that they (Edward and Carlisle) wanted to take the baby out, but Bella asked for Rosalie’s help and she had defended her staunchly so they could not get near Bella without going through her first. Jacob tried to convince Bella that she did not have to die, that all her heartaches would amount to nothing if her life ends just like this. But Bella was positive that everything would work out well in the end. Jacob even tried to feed Bella the line of trying again with another baby but with someone else, if having a baby was what she truly wanted. But no Bella did not want that…it was this particular baby that she wants the one she now has with Edward and she does not believe them at all that it might kill her in the process. Jake decides to leave and walk away, saying he doesn’t want to stay to watch Bella die.

Jacob met up with his pack of wolves and after a disagreement with Sam decided to claim the right to being alpha as it was rightfully his – Jacob was born to lead, after all and not follow the lead of someone else. Jacob decided that he won’t wrestle the leadership away from Sam but he will stand between the pack and the Cullens. He will protect Bella at all costs, no matter what creature is growing inside her belly. Jake left and ran as fast he can to the Cullens to warn them…but soon afterwards, he heard Seth join him an they make perimeter runs around the house while the Cullens took defensive positions inside the house. In the morning, while Jacob slept (and Seth was on perimeter run) Leah arrived and declared that she too had broken away from Sam’s pack not just because she wanted to protect her brother Seth but also because she wanted to get away from Sam (she was Sam’s girl before he imprinted on someone else).

Jacob suggested that Bella may need to drink blood as the baby inside seems clearly to be a bloodsucker so Bella started drinking blood in a cup thru a straw. She gets better but in effect the baby inside her gets stronger with the blood and she gets cracked ribs as a result but Bella insisted she was fine and demanded more blood to feed the baby. Though Jacob wanted to leave as he doesn’t want to see Bella slowly dying, he felt pulled to her by a still unknown force. Then, while the others were still out of the house ‘hunting’ Bella suddenly let out a huge shriek as the baby starts to break more of her bones, including her spine. Edward had no choice then but to take the baby out with Jacob’s help as Rosalie wasn’t at all impervious to all the blood. With his teeth, Edward tore the placenta to bring the baby out and Bella had a glimpse of her pretty child before her heart went still. Edward tried to inject his venom into Bella’s heart and started biting her in many places all over her body to force the venom in but she remained unresponsive. Jacob thought that Bella was dead and his anger at her dying was transferred to the creature that she gave birth to and which now Jacob must kill. But as he approached the child being held by Rosalie, he ‘imprints’ on her – making Renesmee now the center of his universe, and also protecting her against any moves that the wolf pack may decide to make against Edward and Bella’s spawn.

Book three (THE WAR) returns to Bella’s perspective as it was all about Bella becoming a vampire. This was also where the movie decided to cut itself into two parts. The chapter started with Bella’s thoughts on dying, how it felt so good to just slip away into the darkness but she needs to hold on – for Edward, for Jacob, for Renesmee. She felt a sudden hot fire raging from her heart (where Edward plunged the venom) and blazing across her veins. Then suddenly, Bella’s heart started to beat a new tune, she had been reborn. Bella opened her eyes and she was amazed at how she could see every little detail, everything was sharply in focus, like seeing with new eyes. She and Edward went out to hunt first as they knew she would be ‘thirsty’. In the woods, Bella felt thrilled at the speed and clarity by which she travelled thru the trees. She was much faster and stronger than Edward and he tried his best to keep up with her but failed, it was almost as if she was flying. They hunted deer, elks, even a lion but what truly amazed Edward was how easily she stopped to hunt and run from human blood instead of going near it. When she was sated she asked to see Renesmee and so they go home to see her. But before Bella can get near Renesmee, Jacob wanted to test Bella first, to know if she can stay away from Jacob’s scent and she passed with flying colors. Bella moved to take Renesmee in her arms and the others were amazed that Bella was in perfect control of herself, not acting like a newborn at all.

Bella realized that Renesmee’s powers are the opposite of Edward’s in that she can project her thoughts into someone else’s mind by touching. Then, Jacob interrupted and wanted to take Renesmee from Bella’s arms and that’s when realized the unmistakable fact that Jacob had imprinted on her daughter. Bella was fuming mad and even moreso when she learned that he nicknamed her Nessie, from the Loch Ness Monster. In the aftermath, it was Seth who suffered some broken bones for which Bella apologized. Bella did see one good thing about Jacob’s imprinting though in that it made Renesmee untouchable to the pack and made their link with the Cullens stronger. Then, Alice and the others arrived from hunting and they entered bearing a gift for Bella. They gave her a key, for her nineteenth birthday and Edward proceeded to get another key present from his own pocket and Bella immediately knew that it was a key to an ‘after’ car, maybe a sports vehicle. Alice proceeded to push her outside so she could see her gift, only Edward went with them and once near, Alice blindfolded her to reveal a pretty stone cottage nestled deep into the woods, like in fairytales …and she absolutely loved it!

The next day, Jacob went to see Charlie, phased in front of him and told him that Bella is well and may not be the daughter he used to have. He also told her about Renesmee and he was kinda glad to be a grandfather. At first, Bella and the rest of the Cullens were mad at him for putting Charlie in danger . Charlie arrives at the Cullen home and was surprised to see Bella, still quite beautiful and unlike the sick and dying person Jacob pictured her to be. Then, Charlie saw Renesmee and knew it was the child Jacob said they will be adopting, Edward’s niece. He looked at Renesmee’s eyes and saw his own chocolate brown ones reflected and gasped thinking this may indeed be his own granddaughter and started counting months but can’t fathom to understand it all. Charlie just nodded took a step back and said that he did not really want to know everything but he also do not want any more lies. Edward advised him to go along with the ‘public story’ in order to protect Bella and Renesmee. Charlie seemed to have been beholden by Renesmee at such a short time and promised to visit again tomorrow to spend more time with the child.

Soon, the routine of Bella’s new life settled with Charlie visiting them often with Sue Clearwater helping him in this new world of make-believe. She spends her days with her adorable daughter and passionate nights with Edward. Renesmee said her first word ‘Momma’ after a week and started walking some three weeks later. At three months, she was already a big one year old or even like a two-year-old toddler. She can speak with flawless grammar, run, dance and even read. But amid her quick developments, Bella and the others were also getting apprehensive at how fast she has grown so that by their calculations, she would be an adult at four years old. Carlisle and Edward fast-track their research but they couldn’t seem to find much data on half-vampires like her. The family wanted to travel to Brazil, to search for children like her that existed according to Ticuna legends. But Bella did not want to be away from Charlie until the holidays…and she had to go visit the Volturi alone. She had to heed Aro’s note in the wedding gift they sent to them, that he can’t wait to see the new Mrs. Cullen in person. But Bella knew that they must not come to Forks, they must not know about Renesmee. So she has to go to them, and Edward could not go with her, it was not safe as he had long wanted Edward’s and Alice’s capabilities. He may also get to read about Renesmee in Edward’s thoughts so Bella must go by herself, being unreadable by anyone even Edward and Aro.

But these plans did not materialize when one day while Jacob and Bella were teaching Renesmee to hunt animals; Irina saw them from a cliff. She thought Renesmee was an ‘immortal child’ and immediately informed the Volturi. Suddenly, Alice saw something in the future and shattered a crystal vase she was holding in her hand. Everyone was frozen until Alice said that the Volturi are coming to destroy Renesmee and the Cullens for doing something that had been outlawed. The Cullens began to plan what to do – deciding to invite their friends to come in and stand as witnesses to what Renesmee truly was. In the morning, however, they realized thru a note Alice left with Sam (that was torn from a page of Bella’s book) that she had left them. Maybe she saw something in the future that was not acceptable which was why she decided to abandon her family.

But the Cullens, rather than wallow in misery and think about the effect of Alice’s departure decided to heed Alice’s advice to track as many witnesses as possible. Rose and Emmet shall hunt for nomads, Carlisle and Esme to go together while Edward and Bella shall stay in the house to accept the visitors that they will be sending home. But before they start work, Bella asked to go home first and find the book that Alice wrote on and in there she found another note – a name and address in Seattle and instructions to destroy it after reading. Bella just made it appear to Edward that she burned the book out of her anger at Alice. But Bella knew that Alice chose her so Edward could not see thru the lie and read her thoughts.

Soon local and foreign vampires arrive and the Cullen house becomes the headquarters and training ground for the vampires and the wolves. All of them soon become enamored and accepting of Renesmee as they can see that she is not the immortal vampire-child that the Volturi believe her to be. It was later realized that Bella has the powers of a shield and they decided to harness and develop that power, in case the Volturi decide to do battle against them. This they believe considering the Volturi’s history that they are not really after punishment, but rather acquisition. Alistair, in particular, thinks there are some gifted vampires of the Cullen family that Aro want to acquire, like Alice and Edward. Bella realized that this may be why Alice left, so that Aro would never be able to get his hands on her power. They all realized that the Volturi was just waiting for a pretext, a justification, but the decision had already been made long before Irina arrived.

In the end, the Cullens managed to gather about seventeen witnesses – (Irish) Siobhan, Liam and Maggie; (Egyptians) Amun, Kebi, Benjamin and Tia; (Amazons) Zafrina and Senna; (Romanians) Vladimir and Stefan; and (nomads) Charlotte, Peter, Garrett, Alistair, Mary and Randall. This is in addition to the Cullen (Carlisle, Esme, Emmet, Rosalie, Edward, Bella, and Renesmee) and Tanya’s family of eleven in all since they (Tanya, Kate, Eleazar and Carmen) insist on being counted as part of the family. This could very well be the largest friendly gathering of mature vampires in immortal history, apart from the Volturis. One day, Bella decided to do Alice’s bidding on the pretext of bringing Renesmee over to visit Charlie but Bella immediately asked to be excused as she said she still had some errands to run, like Christmas shopping. Soon Bella reached the neighborhood given by Alice as the address of the mysterious Jenks and Bella met a short, balding man about fifty-five who was trembling when he welcomed her. Bella was glad that the stranger he met in the ghetto gave her an idea of what Jenks does for a living so she was able to realize what Alice’s last gift for her was – to acquire identity papers in case everything else failed, and they all lost – so that Jacob and Renesmee can run away. So Bella surmised that Alice may have seen that they probably could not win against the Volturis.

Bella and Renesmee got back to the Cullens’ house and told Edward that she bought Renesmee a golden heart locket at an antique store as a Christmas present. And so their days went on, with Edward, Bella, Renesmee and Jacob going to Charlie’s to spend the Christmas holidays. Bella gave Renesmee the locket at dawn while Edward provided her an MP3 player with most of Edward’s favorite songs. Jacob, on the other hand, gave her a Quilete braided bracelet that was similar to a promise ring. Edward ordered online a new fishing sonar system for Charlie. As they drove back home, Bella considered the things that still needs to be done… like a goodbye note for Charlie and a letter for Renesmee for her to read and know how much she was loved.

Then the Volturi’s finally arrived and they came with much pageantry, in a rigid formal formation, flowing thru the trees in their black/red cloaks stark against the white snow. The Volturi were not even surprised at the number of vampires standing with the Cullens, they clearly outnumber the Cullens at 32 as compared to only nineteen of them willing to fight and seven to bear witness. Then, they even had more vampires behind them, around forty witness to watch as the sentence is made against the Cullens. The advancing Volturi clan stopped about a hundred meters from where the Cullens were situated in the clearing. They were amazed at the sight of the wolves flanking both sides of the vampires - sixteen in all.

As they approached Carlisle spoke that it was never his intention to hurt anyone, the others are here just to bear witness that they committed no crime since the child is not immortal, not a vampire. Aro wanted the truth from Edward who approached him and he saw for himself everything he needed to know about Renesmee. He then turned back to the Volturi, telling them that this now changes everything since the justice they wanted to deliver no longer applies. Aro wanted to meet the child and so Bella approached with Renesmee and a few friends (Jacob and Emmet). Aro touched Renesmee and was intrigued with what he saw about the wolves. Aro then turned back and conferred with his brothers so Edward and the rest of them started to retreat back into their group. Caius was inistent citing Carlilse’s alliance with the wolves but Aro said they weren’t really werewolves but rather shape-shifters.

So Caius then called Irina who refused to make a claim against the Cullens for killing Laurent, so they decided to execute her for misinforming them about the immortal child. This had been their back-up plan all along, to destroy Irina and hope that her family would instantly react and start the fight. But Edward shouted to restrain Tanya and Kate and they were eventually able to hold them down and make them listen to reason. Then, Aro Talked next to witnesses Amun and Siobhan to determine if Renesmee can be a danger to anyone but both of them replied in the negative. But Aro refuses to believe this thinking that the uncertainty of Renesmee’s future is the one that is making her a danger for all of them. The Volturi once again started talking in a huddle among themselves and while they were busy, Bella talked to Jacob and told him of the plan to run with Renesmee. Edward asked if this was what she had been hiding from him and she said not from him but from Aro, and that she had Alice’s help. Edward was pained but he understood and so as they waited for the Volturi’s decision, Bella kept her cloak/shield covering every member of their group. Soon they saw Jane look at them menacingly but none of them can feel anything that she was doing and they start to realize Bella’s power which made Jane shriek in anger. Then, it was Alec’s turn but just like Jane his power could not penetrate thru the shield. Then Aro spoke again and said that Caius votes to kill them all while Marcus said he sees no danger at all. Edward interrupted Aro’s decision-making and asked him if he thinks that there is no danger in the child’s future, no one would be harmed. And when Aro agreed, Edward called in Alice to approach.

Alice and Jasper came running thru the clearing and behind them were Kachiri, the other Amazon and two other individuals, one of whom had a heartbeat like Renesmee, also a half-vampire. They began to tell Aro about their story and in the end, he had to cast his vote that they are just like them and pose no danger at all to the vampires. They would try to find the man who created Nahuel, the new half-vampire as it seems this guy had created not just one but two more since Nahuel claimed to have two half-sisters just like him. Aro then turned to the guards and told them that there shall not be fighting today. The Volturi witnesses started leaving then until no one was left. Aro turned back to the group and apologized for what happened. They expressed hope of becoming friends again but Carlisle said only if they proved worthy of the friendship. Then, they all left but Bella did not release her shield just yet, in case this was a trick. But Alice said that it is truly over and everyone erupted into wild cheers. Only the Romanians were sad because they did not see the fight that they had hoped for. Bella held Renesmee close who asked if she gets to stay with her mom, and Bella replied, ‘forever’.

The group continued the celebration in the Cullen house and while talking about their successful endeavor, they were all sure that the Volturi’s would not simply let this incident pass. The Volturis would try to get them separately but Alice would hopefully see it and they would all gather together again and stand against them. Before the Amazons left, Zafrina insisted that they bring Renesmee to see her someday and Bella promised that she would. The Irish coven left next and finally, the Denalis Garrett with them as he is now totally enamored with Kate. The remaining guests were the Huilen and Nahuel, who stayed to get the full story from Carlisle and Edward. Edward shared that thanks to Alice, Aro found the excuse to not get into a fight that he knew they would surely lose. He had been particularly terrified of Bella and knew they would be on the losing end if a battle does commence.

Then Bella confronted Alice for faking that she left so that Edward would believe too and that was what Aro would see. They did not want Aro to see what Alice was searching for. After some time of fielding their questions Bella and Edward took Nessie home and as they walked, Bella discussed the strangeness of Nahuel’s stares. Edward told her that Nahuel was staring at her since all his life he considered himself evil for killing his mother and which is why he wondered why Bella is still alive. He sees in Bella the mother he should have had and in Edward the father he never had. Bella felt sad for him but Edward said he is at least happy now as he has forgiven himself for what he is.

Bella felt comfort now that they at least had forever together. Bella is thankful too by the fact that her father, Charlie now had Sue in his life, ironic really for the mom of wolves to be with the dad of a vampire. They carried Renesmee to her bed and when they were finally alone, Edward tried to kiss her but Bella pulled back and said she wanted to try something first. She pulled his face closer and concentrated hard, trying to push her shield away and Edward was clearly shocked as the flood of Bella’s memories washed over him. He asked how Bella was able to do it and she admitted practicing with Zafrina a few times. But then Bella got distracted by Edward’s kiss so the shield snapped back. Edward asked if she could try it again but she admitted she can’t do it if she’s distracted. But then again, they have an entire forever to practice. Forever and forever and forever.

I particularly liked the way this book ended as it seems pretty much like a Filipino story – with everyone happy and no loose ends whatsoever. Bella became the strong, independent vampire that she was meant to be and Jacob finding love in the most unexpected place – in Bella’s daughter. Well, at least he would not get to spend forever still pining away teary eyed at Bella in Edward’s arms (like Leah). I also liked the fact that no blood was shed, nobody had to die and the Volturi went home in peace albeit with their tails between their legs…in the end, love wins and Bella, Edward and Renesmee (with Jacob of course) and the rest of the Cullen clan live happily ever after. And also as another trivia, I liked the book cover depicting Bella’s transformation from a pawn into a queen, the strongest piece in the chess game. According to the author it also depicts the final battle with the Volturi as one of wits and strategy, instead of a physical battle.

THE EYE – A movie review

No classes tomorrow and so the kids and I were able to stay up late tonight and watched a really freaky movie on Star Movies – The Eye starring Jessica Alba. Jessica plays the lead character, Sydney Wells, a violinist who had been blind since she was a little girl of about five. Fifteen years later, Sydney decides to undergo a cornea transplant allowing her to see again. At first, her vision remains blurry but after a while, she is able to see clearly but at the same time she starts to experience some terrifying visions, in particular about a fire and many people dying. She begins to tell others about her visions but no one seems to believe her and think she is just not yet used to her new set of ‘eyes’. Her eye therapist though tends to believe her as he had conducted some research and thinks that some of the ‘memories’ of the past eye owner may have been passed on to Sydney, so at least, she now knows that she is not as crazy as some people believe. The two go on a quest to find Sydney’s eye donor and they end up in Mexico. The two soon discover that the images of fire and numerous deaths that Sydney had been seeing actually happened thru an industrial fire that the eye donor ‘saw’ and foretold. But she was unable to save the people from the accident and so she killed herself out of guilt. Sydney tries her best to put the spirit to rest and heads on home when her mission was accomplished. However, as they wait in traffic to cross the Mexican border, sees a ‘vision’ wherein a police chase ends with the fugitive’s vehicle crashing thru the border barriers and into a gasoline tanker, killing many people in the expressway. Sydney tries to get everyone to believe her ‘vision’ and get them off the expressway but to no avail. In the end, the tanker still explodes after being hit by the getaway car and Sydney was hit by flying glass and once again blinded. The last scene shows Sydney recovering at the hospital, blind but at least this time she has more or less come to accept and love her present condition. After all, who would want new ‘eyes’ if they come with extra ‘baggage’ that is quite frightening…who knows, her visions may become much worse and she would soon be seeing ghosts and other paranormal entities…oh dear, I would much rather be blind and content with what I have than have brand new eyes that see something far different and from a different ‘world’.

SALT – A movie review

Salt is an action spy film starring Angelina Jolie whose name in the movie was Evelyn Salt, hence the title. She plays an American secret agent being accused as a Russian sleeper spy so she decides to run and clear her name. The movie begins with Salt being tortured in a North Korean prison on suspicion of espionage. Soon she is traded for a North Korean prisoner and released to the custody of Winter, her CIA boss and into the waiting arms of her scientist boyfriend, Mike. She later learns that it was thru Mike’s persistence/petitions to find and release her that she had been allowed to be set free. Two years later, Salt and Mike are set to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They plan to hold a simple dinner at home but as Salt and Winter are walking out of the office, a Russian defector comes in claiming to have valuable information for them. Salt and Winter return upstairs and proceed to the investigation room to listen to what the defector had to say. He begins by saying that his name is Orlov and narrates a story of a Russian program wherein Russian children had been trained to become sleeper spies some day. They are either exchanged for kidnapped American babies or sent to the US to be adopted. He further narrates that said spies are codenamed K-12s and shall keep their identities secret until Day X comes which begins with the murder of the Russian president during the US Vice-president’s funeral the next day. The mission will be over with the US president’s assassination a day later and the Russian domination shall begin. The agents do not believe the defector’s story and so as Salt was walking out the door, he calmly states that the sleeper agent tasked to assassinate the Russian president, was named Evelyn Salt. Salt walks out and proceeds to the viewing room where Winter and the other agents were, she sees that the lie detector scan confirms the defector’s story. But Salt insists on her innocence and gets upset when she is asked to remain inside a locked room as the others discuss what to do with her. Orlov is escorted by two CIA agents but when they enter an elevator, he proceeds to kill his two escorts and calmly walks out of the CIA building. Salt, meanwhile, was allowed to use her phone and when she attempts to call her husband, Mike, all she gets is the recorded message in their answering machine. It was then that Salt realized that she and her husband are in danger so when she saw that the other agents were distracted with Orlov’s escape, she sets out to make an escape of her own. She gets trapped in an empty floor and concocts an explosive weapon using the leg of one of the tables (traces of MacGyver here eh?) and escapes the lockdown and team of agents running after her. She reaches her apartment and sees evidence that Mike was kidnapped. She then proceeds to pack her bags and take their dog and some of Mike’s spiders with her. She climbs out the window just as a SWAT team enters her home. She climbs down to a neighbor’s apartment and changes clothes but as she was walking out the building, Winter spots her and a chase ensues. They almost corner her at a bridge so she jumps off it and lands on a truck and jumps from one truck to another until she finally reaches the ground safely, steals a motorcycle from a passing rider and safely escape her pursuers. Salt proceeds to New York and rents a hotel room where she extracts venom from a spider and dyes her hair black. She is seen studying a blueprint of tunnels to the cathedral and some flashbacks reveal that she is indeed a sleeper agent and makes plans to enter the church where the US VP shall be honored during his funeral. The next day, as the Russian president speaks, she explodes the floor where he was then standing on causing him to fall down to her level. She shoots the Russian president just as CIA agents come in and surrenders to her colleague Agent Peabody. On the way to the hospital, the Russian president was confirmed dead. Salt is handcuffed and transported through the city but manages to disable both her escorts even the driver and makes the vehicle flip and fall down to the street below. She escapes in the ensuing milieu. She proceeds to the barge where Orlov and the rest of the Russian sleeper agents are hiding. Thru flashbacks it was established that Salt grew up and was trained in Russia along with other children by a master who turns out to be Orlov. Orlov informs her that the next step of their plan is to seize nuclear weapons and stage a war between Russia and the US. She sees Mike being held captive in one portion of the ship but Orlov sought to test her loyalty and kills Mike while she watched unmoving. He then escorts her into his office where he informs her about her rendezvous with another agent the next day. They celebrate with wine and then Salt proceeds to cut Orlov’s throat with the wine glass they were drinking from, gets some guns, grenades and kills everyone on the barge. The next day, Salt meets a NATO officer, another sleeper spy who sneaks her into the White House disguised as his male aide. The NATO officer then launches a suicide attack so that the Secret Service and Winter take the President into the bunkhouse for his safety…or so they thought. Salt follows them underground and takes out the Secret service agents that block her way. Inside the bunkhouse, the President starts to raise the terror alert since Russia seemed intent to fire their nuclear weapons at the US to avenge their President’s death. Winter then starts to shoot everybody else in the room and introduces himself to the President as Nikolai Tarkovsky, another Russian sleeper agent. When the President refused to launch the missiles, Winter knocks him out and aims missiles at Mecca, Saudi Arabia and Tehran to unite Muslims against the US. Salt persuades Winter to let her inside since after all they were on the same side but TV reports revealed that the Russian president was still alive and had recovered after being injected with the spider venom that Salt used. Winter got mad at Salt for falling in love with Mike thus making her unable to push through with her mission. He told her that it was their intention to kidnap Mike as insurance because they do not trust that she will push though with the mission. Salt is able to enter the bunkhouse and manages to wrestle the control switch from Winter and aborts the firing of nuclear weapons. At this point, secret service agents have arrived and they handcuff Salt while Winter was being treated for his wounds near the staircase. When Salt saw an opportunity, she jumped to the stairway, strangling Winter and breaking his neck with her wrist cuffs. Agent Peabody takes her on a helicopter ride to custody and he asked why she killed Winter and her only response was that someone had to do it. She proceeds to tell him her story about the sleeper agents and why they had to be stopped. At first, Peabody refused to believe her but later on realizes that she did not really kill the Russian president and himself…she only wants to exact revenge on her fellow Russian sleepers since they took everything from her. Then he receives a confirmation that Salt’s prints were found at Orlov’s barge so he became convinced that she would stop at nothing until all of the K-12 spies are killed. He removes her handcuffs and jumps from the chopper, escaping into the river and running freely into the woods. The movie had great action scenes which were quite remarkable since they say some scenes Angelina Jolie did herself, with the help of a trainer. But, of course, with these kinds of films, you have to suspend disbelief for a few moments and just accept the implausible plot and flawed premise that is being presented…even for just the one and a half hour of viewing the film. Still it was entertaining and truly action packed!

NEW BUNNIES!

I went on leave today so I could attend my daughter’s Linggo ng Wika presentation at school. My daughter and I ate a leisurely breakfast then we got ready for her program – bath, dress, fix her hair, then make-up. Left at around 11 but it turns out their program will be starting at past 12 pa! She can’t leave pa naman so I could feed her something to eat kasi their dance number was last pa! The program ended by 3 and off we went (after dressing up, of course!) to eat at a nearby Jollibee store ….but the real highlight of our day today – WE BOUGHT SOME CUTE BUNNIES – at a nearby rolling pet store! YIPEE! I just knew the hubby is not going to like this but hey they were just so adorable…my daughter still do not know what to name them but I just knew we are just gonna have fun with our new pets!

P.S. By the way, here's a pic of my daughter in costume for their Linggo ng Wika event...hehehe

THE HEIGHT OF STUPIDITY…or my two-cents worth on the hostage-taking incident in Luneta!

The country is once again in the eye of the storm these past few days because of the seemingly inadequate government response to a hostage-taking incident that happened a few days ago, last August 23, 2010. It happened when a tourist bus was boarded by a disgruntled police officer at Rizal Park in Manila. The bus, then carrying 25 people, mostly tourists and a tour guide from Hong Kong was hijacked by a cop hoping to get reinstated as he felt he was summarily dismissed in 2009 for allegations of corruption. However, ten hours into the stand-off (yes it took them that long!) negotiations broke down when the police arrested the cop’s brother and incited him to open fire. The bus driver escaped but Mendoza and eight of his hostages were killed and several others injured. I guess what really got everyone’s ire was the way the Manila Police District SWAT team conducted its ‘rescue attempt’, which took around 90 minutes and showed to the entire world just how inept and bumbling Philippine cops truly were. The incident commander on the ground was Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and Superintendent Yebra was designated as the negotiator but the hostage-taker kept in constant touch with media man Erwin Tulfo. He at first demanded that the Ombudsman review his case and by afternoon, Manila Vice-mayor Isko Moreno personally delivered a letter from the Ombudsman to the hostage scene. But Mendoza did not like that the Ombudsman refused to reinstate him but instead just promised to review his case. Another thing that went terribly wrong was the fact that they allowed live media coverage of the event and since the tourist bus had a TV on board, Mendoza was able to learn about the presence of SWAT teams and snipers in the vicinity. Mendoza became further agitated upon witnessing his brother get arrested on TV while hoping to negotiate on his behalf (they said he was seen carrying a gun, that was why he got arrested). Mendoza demanded that they release his brother or he would start executing hostages. At this point, some shots were indeed fired and later on they learned from survivors that two hostages were shot point blank by Mendoza. It was during this stage that the SWAT team showed its total incompetence when it surrounded the bus and attempted for so many minutes to break the windows with sledgehammers…but they took so long because apparently the windows of the bus were made of Plexiglas…well, they could have done some research first right!?!? So they won’t look outright bumbling to the rest of the world!?!?!Imagine…their attempts to board the bus took ONE HOUR! The attempt to open the door of the bus was also laughable – they tied a rope to a police vehicle and it resulted to the rope snapping – WTF!?!?! For a while, there I thought I was a watching a police comedy show!!! Finally, they were able to do something right coz when Mendoza attempted to go out the door and shoot back at the cops, a police marksman shot Mendoza in the head. By then, eight hostages had already died, including the Hong Kong tour guide while the others were brought to nearby hospitals to be treated for minor wounds and injuries. Sentiments on social media about the affair ranged from shame, sadness and sympathy for the hostage victims, anger at the police for their bumbling response, annoyance at the media for their overzealous coverage, rage at the seemingly inadequate government response during and after the incident. But most of all, there was overall concern over the damage the incident would bring to the country’s image as a tourist destination. But I guess more than that, the government should learn from this sordid affair and start with the basics with regards to handling crisis. This is not the first and last time that an incident like this may happen…let’s just hope that the government would do better the next time. P.S. A few more months later, both the Philippine and HK governments conducted separate investigations into the incident. Their findings both revealed that the victims had been unlawfully killed and identified some lapses in the way the Philippine government handled the incident. Among the findings include – failure to activate the crisis management committee, lack of involvement of the DOJ, the arrest of Gregorio Mendoza that triggered the hostage-taker to become hostile, the absence of Mayor Lim and MPD Director at a ‘crucial time’ during the negotiations, the lack of training, equipment and tactical competence of the SWAT officers, the lack of vital information about the bus, the rejection of the use of the PNP SAF and failure to preserve the crime scene, and failure to block televised proceedings. The Hongkong government issued a ‘black travel alert’ for the Philippines as a result of the affair. A few more months later, Deputy Ombudsman Gonzales was dismissed for his inordinate and unjustified delay in handling Mendoza’s appeal.

FIRED!

I learned some distressing news today…my son had been fired from his job at NKTI. He had been working there since 2008, more than two years already so it’s a bit depressing that he had to be fired…yup that’s the correct term, I guess his ‘ninong’ (the one who hired him there in the first place) got fed up with his shenanigans and could not anymore cover up for him so he had to be let go… So I guess it’s back to job-hunting once again for him…or maybe he wants to return to school again, who knows what the future would bring. I knew I just had to be here for him and support whatever decision he may choose to take…

ELEVEN STITCHES!

The day started out like any other lazy Sunday at our home…we woke up late, ate a late breakfast at around ten. After that we watched some TV and napped a bit, the kids played with the computer while the hubby did some carpentry work for Kit’s cabinet in the garage. By 1:00 p.m., I started to prepare our lunch…I cooked the rice and was waiting for it to simmer 30 minutes later when all hell suddenly broke loose… I am writing this now…about two days after the incident happened…I guess I couldn’t bear to write it all down immediately after – the pain was still so vivid, the images in my mind too raw that I couldn’t bear to write it down just yet…this is one experience I hope no mother would ever have to endure --- I just knew the moment I heard the urgency in my son’s voice when he uttered just one single word – Tay! And my husband responded with an expletive…my heart suddenly felt like it fell to the ground. I immediately asked them what happened…alarm in my voice. But they never got to respond. The two of them immediately entered the house and proceeded directly to the kitchen…all that was left for me to see was the red trail of blood droplets that followed them…I asked the hubby and he confirmed my worst suspicions – my son is going to need some stitches to ‘repair’ his right hand – yup…that’s how worse it was – it needed to be repaired! I immediately sprang into action, went upstairs to get dressed, get some money, and as I was twirling around downstairs thinking what else to bring and discussing with the hubby what hospital we should bring him to…I was stopped by his seeming silence and I saw him slumped on the sofa, his face ashen and pale and he said – I don’t think I could drive…my son was by then sitting beside him, seemingly also on the brink of collapse. And so we waited a few minutes until the color returned a bit on both of their faces and I went about cleaning the droplets of blood just to keep myself busy. We left and finally decided on the Sapangpalay General Hospital. Upon arrival, I was overwhelmed at the huge number of people inside the emergency room and I was getting worried that my son might bleed to death. But the nurses were sympathetic and recognized that ours was an emergency case and so they prioritized my son. I decided I could not stand being in the emergency room and so I opted to stay with my daughter in the van (we don’t have any help with us kasi so we can’t leave her at home). But, in a little while, I asked them how they were and the hubby texted me that he was already being ‘stitched’ but that he was also getting dizzy and so I had no choice but to go there and take his place…there I was with my son’s head on my shoulder, my hand holding his other hand and my eyes carefully averted from what the doctors were doing on the table. But I did get one glimpse of the hand and it reminded me of one thing – lonnganisa – one that was quite puffed and split open in the middle – uh-oh I don’t think I would be able to eat longganisa again after this… I was doing fine naman except for the little pinch in my heart every time my son whispers aray! and presses hard against my palm. So I asked the doc why he is feeling some pain, and he answered that the anesthesia must be wearing off…It felt to me like eternity already and since I can’t bear looking at his hand, I asked Keith why it was taking so long and he says that they are just only stitching the second layer…not yet the skin…my God! I could not imagine how much longer I could take this…then the final straw that broke the camel’s back came when a new patient of a motorcycle accident arrived. He had broken legs (which thankfully I did not see) but I guess it was too much for me to take…so I texted the hubby to come replace me and he did… It was just so hard for me to see my son in pain…and I feel so helpless knowing there was no way I could help ease his hurt…I know he had always been like this around knives and all other sharp instruments (he gets cut more often than not when using those darn things!) but he never learns his lesson. I guess now he would surely be more careful when using a cutter. I am just glad that his entire thumb was not cut off, coz even if it was his right hand (he is a lefty) he would still find it difficult to move around with missing appendages…thank you Lord for saving his hand…

FAMILY GET-TOGETHER AT LOPEZ FARM

To celebrate my brother’s homecoming this year, my dad opted to spend an out of town weekend at Lopez farms somewhere in Cavite. We dropped by Project 4 to pick up my brother and current beau before proceeding to Makati to go to Cavite in convoy with my dad’s vehicle. We left at around 12 and reached Cavite some two hours later. The place was quite pretty indeed. It is filled with so many trees and hammocks that make the place so utterly relaxing. The main house is also quite a marvel – made entirely of wood and filled all around with windows, making it quite airy and spacious, too…not that it needed to expand its space since the place is already big, as it is.

At around three in the afternoon, the kids took a dip in the pool while I just lazed around the house reading a book. When night started to fall, I helped the hubby and their current hired helper (Ateng went home e!) cook the grilled meat and we had dinner in a while. The dining area filled up the back part of the entire house. It had a very long table…which was just right for a big family like ours. It was a truly satisfying meal we all shared and afterwards, since the place had no TV, we made small talk and exchanged stories in the sala…amid the background of a tuko croaking somewhere in the trees that surround the place.

In a little while, we retired to our bedrooms. We were given rooms downstairs – one room for us and the other bedroom for my brother. There was one airconditioned bedroom upstairs, beside the sala for Papa and Tita E. The other was just a fan room which was reserved for an aunt who did not come…instead it was my stepsister’s family who slept there. Papa’s room was quite big and could accommodate us if we wanted to sleep there but it was a bit cold and so after I used his laptop a bit inside the room, I went down na rin to our room…but aside from the four bedrooms of the main house, they had a dormitory that could house about fifteen to twenty people…just right for a teambuilding session.

The next day, we did nothing much…they swam a bit, ate a lot, laughed a lot, slept some more and basically enjoyed our stay in that very peaceful and restful place. Sometimes, it's nice, too, to get away to a place like this...without any television and just nature at its most basic...well, we have electricity but at least we spent much time just TALKING with each other, getting updated on what's going on in each other's lives instead of just staring inanely at the boobtube...we also got to reminisce about our past vacations...happy times we spent together...it was a fun and meaningful time for us...if not for the proliferation of numerous insects, this would be one good place to return to...

INCEPTION – A movie review

If I were to use just one word to describe the movie I guess I would choose – BIZARRE. Because basically, the plot is just so different from any other movie that I have watched in my lifetime… it just blows my mind to think that something like this could really happen. It’s a step into a realm of the unknown – stepping into a person’s psyche but thankfully the directors and writers were able to craft this movie in such a way to make it fully riveting and still quite intriguing. But let me start at the beginning…the movie is a story about espionage thieves led by Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who infiltrate the subconscious of their targets and extract the needed information while dreaming. But this time around, instead of just getting information, Cobb had the difficult task of ‘implanting an idea’ into a target’s mind. The movie introduces the ‘dream within a dream’ concept that some may find confusing. The plan they devised to execute their mission was well-crafted, the players all ready to play their parts…but there was one hitch. Cobb had left the memory of his wife (who committed suicide while in the dream) in Limbo and it is her memory that has kept disrupting the plans they have made…Cobb explains to his newly-recruited dream architect Ariadne that the reason why he cannot go home is because of her…Mal committed suicide and put the blame on him so he is wanted for murder. The team executes their plan to ‘implant’ while onboard a plane and Ariadne helps Cobb get over his guilt over his wife’s death thereby ensuring that their mission is a success. The ending of the movie shows Cobb getting off the plane in Los Angeles and successfully getting through customs and he knows that his client made good on his word to give his life back in exchange for his successful ‘inception’. Cobb gets to see his children once again but before he does, he takes out his totem – a black top – and spins it…but before it fully stops, the top wobbles slightly and then the screen goes black. This ending, I think, was meant by the writer and director to confuse the moviegoers and at the same time, give the moviegoers something to talk about…it lends a sense of mystery not knowing if, indeed, in that last scene, Dominic is REALLY with his children or if he is still in a dream. It’s a brilliant brain-twister ending to what is already a very confusing and mind-bending film! (picture grabbed from IMDB)

OYSTER BOY TREAT AND HEAVENLY FOOT SPA!

Yesterday, my brother and his estranged wife treated us to lunch at Oyster Boy (Cubao Rustans branch). It was my first time to eat there and I was never really a huge fan of oysters although I already tasted it as a child (since it’s my dad’s fave)…but boy oh boy the oysters they served were truly truly delish! The other dishes included in the festival plate (I think it was Ati-atihan fest and another one from Visayas DInagyang, I think) were also quite appetizing…so sorry though but we weren’t able to take any pics. I guess we were just too hungry to bother with taking any photos…besides the interiors of Oyster Boy were a bit dark so pic-taking isn’t really appropriate. Then, after the sumptuous lunch, my brother took the kids shopping and playing video games at SM Cubao while his ex-wife treated us to a foot spa (someplace in QC near Scout area, Beijing Foot Spa, I think?). It costs around PhP500 per pax but it was oh so heavenly to have your feet and entire leg pampered and massaged while we relax or watch our preferred shows with our individual TV consoles. After an hour at the spa, we went downstairs to indulge in some cakes and coffee for dessert! Around five, we all headed home (after a brief stop at their house in Cubao to wait for my brother and the kids) to our home in the boondocks totally satiated and happy with how our day was spent.